The EU and Terrorism

Terrorism has been bitterly experienced in Europe for many decades, and has come to frame so much of world politics in the years since 9/11. But an examination of a variety of cases – over Hamas and in Egypt, with the PKK, in Afghanistan, and in Chechnya, indicates a variation in European policy, but too great a reliance on the mode of securitising the relevant issue. Such an approach has been less than ideal; and in its place, there needs to be a thorough review of policy and practice in the field of terrorism, and a move towards the politicisation of these issues.